Attacks on Israelis in Kenya Kill 11

LUBAINA KHER

Published 6:00 pm, Wednesday, November 27, 2002

Associated Press Writer

KIKAMBALA, Kenya (AP) _ In simultaneous attacks on Israeli tourists in Kenya, a car bomb exploded at an Israeli-owned hotel on Thursday, killing 11 people, and at least two missiles were fired at _ but missed _ an Israeli airliner.

A green all-terrain vehicle packed with explosives rammed through the gate of the Paradise Hotel in Kikambala, 15 miles north of Mombasa, at about 8 a.m., police said. One man jumped out and blew himself up inside the hotel, while the others detonated the vehicle out front, witnesses said.

The blasts killed two Israelis, three bombers and six Kenyans, said Kenyan police spokesman Jesse Mituki. Most of the Kenyans were traditional dancers who were performing for the tourists, said Abbas Gullet of the Kenyan Red Cross.

The Israeli government, however, said three Israelis were killed. About 80 other people were wounded, said John Sawe, the Kenyan ambassador to Israel.

At about the same time, two missiles streaked by a jetliner owned by the Arkia charter company as it left the Mombasa airport bound for Tel Aviv.

King'ori Mwangi, another police spokesman, said two missile casings were found near the airport. He said there were three or four men with Arab features seen in a white vehicle that fled the scene.

"It looks like a coordinated attack," Mituki said.

The aircraft landed safely about 5 1/2 hours later in Tel Aviv. None of the 261 passengers and 10 crew members was hurt.

Yehuda Sulami, the Paradise Hotel's director, said the vehicle smashed through a gate outside the hotel. When it reached the lobby, one man got out, ran into the reception area and set off an explosion, killing himself, Sulami said.

He said the other two stayed in the vehicle, which exploded.

Hotel staff also saw a light plane circling over the hotel at the time of the explosion, he said. Three packages, which staff said were bombs, were dropped from the plane, one landing in the hotel pool, one on the roof and one in the ocean, he said.

Earlieer, Mwangi had said the vehicle slipped in when the gate was opened to admit a busload of tourists, but he later said it crashed through the gate.

A fire gutted the hotel, an an Associated Press reporter saw seven bodies burned beyond recognition. Rescue workers covered the bodies and searched for more casualties.

Yoav Biran, the Israeli Foreign Ministry's director general, said the death toll from the hotel attack could rise.

"We aren't sure this is the end, and there are quite a number of Israelis injured," Biran said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Sawe said he suspected Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, which bombed the U.S. embassy in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi in 1998.

"I don't have any doubt this is al-Qaida," Sawe said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that it was "quite possible" that al-Qaida was behind the attacks, but that Israel was also looking into other possibilities. He said he believed Palestinian militants have been trying to get shoulder-held missiles from Iran and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.

Netanyahu called the missile attack "a very dangerous escalation of terror."

"It means that terror organizations and the regimes behind them are able to arm themselves with weapons which can cause mass casualties anywhere and everywhere," Netanyahu said. "Today, they're firing the missiles at Israeli planes, tomorrow they'll fire missiles at American planes, British planes, every country's aircraft. Therefore, there can be no compromise with terror."

The aircraft had just taken off from Mombasa airport when the pilot saw a flash of light to his left, said an Arkia official, Shlomo Hanael.

The pilot initially prepared for an emergency landing in Nairobi, Kenya, to check whether the plane was damaged, but after consultations with Israeli officials, it was decided to fly directly to Israel, Israel TV's Channel Two said. Hanael said there was no damage to the plane.

Passengers said they heard a loud boom and felt the plane shake just after takeoff.

"It felt like something fell off the wing," Kerry Levy, 25.

Crew members did not explain what happened until just before landing at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion International Airport.

The Aug. 7, 1998, blast at the U.S. embassy in Nairobi killed 219 people _ including 12 Americans _ and wounded 5,000. A nearly simultaneous attack on the U.S. embassy in neighboring Tanzania killed 12 people and injured more than 80. The terrorists convicted in the attacks have been linked to the al-Qaida terror network.